Burkina Faso signs the Medicrime Convention

With 26 signatories and 5 ratifying countries, Burkina Faso became the latest country to sign the Medicrime convention on the 17 February 2017.

Adopted in 2010 by the Council of Europe and entering into force in 2016, the Medicrime convention is the first international legal treaty to protect patients from the threat of fake medicines. It is the only international legal instrument that has made it a criminal offence to produce and distribute fake medical products or commit similar crimes. It provides for the enforcement of effective, fitting and dissuasive sanctions to punish the production and trafficking of fake medical products, at both the national and international level. Burkina Faso is the third African country to sign the legal treaty.